’Ways of Speaking’ on Norwegian Radio 1935-1980 A Study of Text Norm Evolution

WENCHE VAGLE

Within research on media discourse, the in- radio texts that have been produced and terest in the historical dimension has been transmitted up through the decades. The growing over the last decade or so. There radio’s text norms is an indirect route to is an awareness that mass media genres the social settings and functions that this change over time. However, empirical re- medium has fostered, and ultimately to its search on historical shifts in meaning pat- cultural significance. If genres are ’the terns in mass media discourse is just begin- drive belts from the history of society to ning to emerge. A minute part of this fresh the history of language’ (Bakhin, quoted ground will be covered in this article, from Fairclough 1992:126), then the his- which reports from an on-going research tory of a society can be surveyed through project on text conventions in radio discourse. the evolution of its genre system, as it is More precisely, the issue to be addressed is articulated by shifts in communicative pat- the unfolding of ’ways of speaking’ on terns. Norwegian public service radio in the pe- This article will present the over-all riod 1935–1980, which roughly covers the scope of a project with the working title era of The Norwegian Broadcasting Cor- ’Diachronic Shifts in Radio Discourse. Lin- poration’s (NRK) broadcasting monopoly guistic Interaction and Time-Space Trans- in Norway. What was referred to as text con- formations in Norwegian Radio 1935- ventions above can be rendered more tech- 1980’. Given the mid-way status of the nically as text norms, which form a sub- project, priority will be given to theoretical group of social norms. More informally, they framework, problem area and investigation can be given as ’ways of meaning’. They techniques. Nevertheless, there is also constitute registers and genres. An important room for preliminary findings and illustrat- subset of the radio’s ’ways of meaning’ is ing excerpts from Norwegian radio texts its ’ways of speaking’, and it is these that (included in a separate appendix). Finally, are inspected in my study.1 the following question is raised: What does My claim is that revealing facets of the it mean when meaning patterns on the ra- radio medium’s cultural impact can be un- dio change? Answers are sought in the covered via an examination of its text norms technological and socio-historical context as they shine through in the succession of of the radio medium – more specifically:

183 in the communicative tasks and responsi- which are essential for the manufacture and opera- bilities that radio broadcasting has taken on tion of the equipment and for its use as well (Ong in Norway. 1990:136).

Previous Research on Starting from the conclusion of my prior research on radio discourse, that broad- Present-Day Radio Talk casting has given rise to its own text strate- My interest in the historical growth of gies so that it is no longer relevant to treat speaking patterns on the radio springs the language of the air as a parallel to the from a small-scaled survey of Norwegian printed word, the present study sets about radio magazine talk in the mid-1980s (Vag- to trace the genesis of linguistic radio reg- le 1990a, 1990b, 1991 & 1992). That study isters. This endavour will outline some disclosed a heterogeneous picture of dif- phases in secondary orality: namely those ferent radio situations expressed through that are voiced by Norwegian radio in the more or less distinct linguistic registers. It period 1935 till 1980. turned out that these registers could be lo- cated along a somewhat disordered con- Wider Implications tinuum from basically written registers (in all but the oral reading delivery) via differ- of Object of Study ent mixtures of spoken and written lan- I have stated that renewals in the radio’s guage to basically spoken registers (with text norm repertoire represent a revealing some preplanning of topical structure). object of study because they furnish an in- The scale materialised when the different direct path to the social situations and text types in the corpus, identified on the functions that this medium has brought basis of situational criteria, were ranked by about, and thereby also to its cultural im- frequency counts of ’spoken and written’ port. In order to substantiate this claim, I parameters. In passing, it can be noted that need to sketch a couple of theoretical ar- these results are in agreement with other guments from communication theory, so- observations on radio language as a blend ciosemiotics and action theory. Some of of speaking and writing (cp Tannen 1989: the theoretical points will come to a fuller 150ff, Lindblad 1985, Jonsson 1982, Nord- view in page 186 on theoretical framework. berg 1991, Lomheim 1987, Berge 1990: 53). The spoken-written continuum that was roughed out in my former study can Radio Situations be seen as an outer face of secondary ora- Let me start with the gist of Joshua lity, which is a displaced and hybrid orality, Meyrowitz’ (1985) and Anthony Giddens’ marked by planned spontaneity (Silver- (1990) observation on mass media and mo- stone 1991:148f). In Walter Ong’s wording: dernity: The influence of modern media on social behaviour and society stems from This new orality has striking resemblances to the old the new spatio-temporal configurations of in its participatory mystique, its fostering of a com- the communicating parties that have been munal sense, its concentration on the present mo- brought to earth by the media industry’s ment, and even in its use of formulas. But it is es- application of modern communication sentially a more deliberate and self-conscious orality, technology. With this insight as a point of based permanently on the use of writing and print, departure, the radio situation can be cha-

184 racterised and distinguished from other lights) and norms established by convention communication situations on the basis of for situated use of sign systems in commu- two factors: 1) the special set-ups of the nication (such as text norms). Advanced sign communicative coordinates of time, space systems that include both a lexicon and a and participants that have been facilitated grammar (or their equivalents), of which by the appliance of radio technology for human language is the prototypical one, broadcasting purposes, and 2) the types of command yet another semiotic resource: social, i.e. communicative, functions that the ability to fuse instantiations of single integrate such situations. Let us put these signs into complex wholes, i.e. texts, and two factors under scrutiny in order to iden- thereby generate an infinite array of novel, tify the mechanisms through which they agglomorated meanings (cp Lundsten influence the radio’s ’ways of meaning’. forthcoming). In addition, technological This will also bring us to the issue of the and technical layers might be involved – radio’s cultural impact. both technology for reproducing, storing, and transmitting semiotically coded infor- mation (such as writing, Morse and notes), as Communication and Mediation well as secondary technology that opens This is the slot in my argument where I up to further transgression of spatio-tem- need to make a detour to communication poral boundaries (such as print media and theoretical deliberations. According to the electronic media). These diverse mediation phenomenological framework that I am strata interconnect so that physical, per- working with, communication involves one ceptual, and technical properties impose party who presents a states of affairs, an certain limits that need to be respected in intentional object tied to her conscious- the formation of semiotic medium phe- ness, to another party by way of a medium nomena. Apart from this ontological bind- (or more media). It is a necessary condition ing, it is the social functions – the commu- for communication to occure that the nicative tasks, purposes and intended ef- other party provides an uptake, i.e. that she fects for the undertaking of which actors apprehends the states of affairs in question employ semiotic systems and conventions on the basis of the mediated presentation – that ’determine’ the genesis of semiotic that was made by addressor (cp Lundsten resources. forthcoming). Being a mental phenom- enon, a communicative act needs to be car- Text Norms Mediate ried by a physical medium in order to be perceivable. Mediation in itself is not par- Social Situations and Functions ticular to communicative acts: All action is The point that I want to make by way of mediated. What is specific to communica- this excursion to the composite nature of tive acts, stemming from their mental na- communication mediation, is the fact that ture, is the complexity of their mediation. among all the tiers of mediation involved, It consists, not only of physical and per- it is the conventional norms for communi- ceptual layers (sound or light waves and cative use of sign systems, notably text perceptual qualities connected to the hu- norms, that respond the most directly to so- man perceptual-cognitive apparatus), but cial situation and function. (Sign systems also of normatively based semiotic ones: themselves, for example natural languages, sign systems (such as language and traffic also adapt to the jobs and settings that they

185 are taken into use to convey, but that is a will also lay bare in what way the radio’s much slower process.) Hence, it is on the ’ways of speaking’ realise the specific so- semiotic level of text norms that one will cial settings engendered by this broadcast- find the imprints left by the radio situa- ing medium and thereby manifest its cul- tions’ origos of time, space and partici- tural meaning. In condensed form, the ar- pants. And it is here that the characteristic gument runs as follows: A culture, i.e. a social functions of Norwegian (public ’way of life’, is constituted by its situational service) radio are manifested. As is the types, which in their turn are realised by case for social norms generally, text norms the set of ’ways of doing things’ comman- are ways of acting established by conven- ded by its members. These activity types tion as means for carrying out specific are created, maintained, transformed and tasks which spring from particular socio- annihilated in actual actions. In proverbial historical contexts. From the evolution of form, a culture is what its members do. ’ways of meaning’ on the radio, one can Within communication, actions are com- therefore deduct what social relations ra- municative, which implies that ’ways of do- dio texts have been (and are) used to mark, ing’ amount to ’ways of meaning’ is this and what communicative missions this me- field. So, it is through the realisation circle dium has been (and is) ascribed. Conse- holding between ’text mediated communi- quently, to anatomise the unfolding of text cative actions – situations – culture’ that norms on Norwegian public service radio text norms – as uttered by finer or coarser will yield glimpses of the transition from textual patterns, couched in text mosaics – its traditional obligations and functions contribute to the creation of a culture’s such as ’information’, ’education’ and ’dif- specificity and thereby serve to locate the fusion of (national) culture’ towards mis- culture in question on the sociohistorical sions that are often summed up as ’social dimension in relation to other cultures.3 integration’, ’reinforcement of personal identity’, ’entertainment’, ’participatory ad- 2 Theoretical Framework venture’, and ’consumer service’. It is against this backdrop that ’ways of speak- and Object of Study ing’ stand out as an interesting object of Theoretically, this study is grounded in the study. (However, a description of text sociosemiotic ’school’ in linguistics, asso- norm metamorphoses will not tell what the ciated first and foremost with M.A.K. medium has actually been used for. Recep- Halliday’s name. The main achievement of tion research will have to be mobilised in this theory is that it explicitly appreciates order to look into such matters.) language as a medium for social actions in social contexts. It sees language as ’a set of socially-contextualized resources of beha- Text Norms Mediate Culture viour, a ”meaning potential” that is related I need to strengthen my theoretical plat- to situations of use’ (Halliday 1990:34). form, building on ideas from sociosemio- ’Language is the ability to ”mean” in the tics (Halliday 1990, Ventola 1987) and ac- situation types, or social contexts, that are tion theory (Giddens 1990a:38), in order to generated by the culture’ (loc cit).4 In addi- explicate in what sense ’ways of meaning’ tion to this theoretical tradition, I draw on express social situations and culture in a more explicitly formulated theory of text general. The theoretical edifice to be raised norm constitution and change (Berge

186 1990, 1991, 1992 & 1993), influenced by What Is the Link between Text and Mukarovsky and Voloshinov. Context? Now, what is the link between text and con- What Is Discourse? text that enables us to say that they form an My object of study in broad terms is ’dia- integrated whole, named discourse? Let me chronic shifts in Norwegian radio dis- turn to sociology and sociolinguistics in or- course from 1935 to approximately 1980’ der to venture an answer to that question. (cf project title given initially). Let me exa- Empirical studies in sociolinguistics over mine this object in order to bring out its the last three og four decades have docu- constitutive parts and pin down the spe- mented that language use correlates syste- cific point of interest within the object, matically with situation type.6 On a less ab- namely text norm evolution. In addition, such stract level this implies that people vary an analysis of the object’s constitution will their linguistic practices according to what lay out a bridge to my operationalised re- they are doing – according to the nature of search questions and analytical tools. The their activity and the social context in specifying parts of this object, ’Norwegian which they are using language to perform radio’ and ’from 1935 to approximately some job. This must mean that language 1980’, are more or less self-explanatory de- users do not chose arbitrarily or ’freely’ limitations that need no further comment. from their linguistic resources when they The part ’diachronic shifts’ will be dealt speak or write. Rather, their linguistic ac- with on page 192. First, I will concentrate tions are informed by some norms of con- on the key term discourse. According to the duct. Members of society learn how to sociosemiotic definition that I am working mean in social settings. Through experi- with, discourse as a social process consists of ence, they develop a sensibility to cultural, text and context.5 situational and verbal contexts that enables A text is a medium for social action them as speakers to select (and as hearers (Berge 1990, Ventola 1987:16, Lundsten to predict) the systematic norms governing forthcoming). In the sociosemiotic per- the particulars of a text. In Dell Hymes’ spective it has been somewhat informally well-known wording, this sensibility is defined as ’language that is doing some job known as ’communicative competence’ (cp in some context’ (Halliday & Hasan 1990: Halliday 1990:32). 10), more formally as language that ’func- Linguistic action is, of course, but a tions as a unity with respect to its environ- sub-type of human action in general. ment’ (Halliday & Hasan 1992:2). The Therefore, sociology – more precisely – Halliday tradition is first and foremost action theory, is an obvious place to search concerned with verbal texts. This does not for a hypothesis on what motivates linguis- mean that text is considered a linguistic tic actions. All varieties of action theories, phenomenon only. Many texts – notably including precursors such as voluntarism mass media texts such as radio program- and utilitarianism, set out to explain human mes, films and cartoons – draw on other behaviour. They often start from the ob- semiotic systems in addition to the linguis- servation that there seems to be some con- tic one. Others rely solely on non-verbal sistency, some recurring patterns, in human semiotic systems, for instance musical and behaviour, and try to explain how this can iconic ones. be. Answers vary across the continuum be-

187 tween the limiting boundaries of the hu- The Semiotic World of man condition: biology (heredity), physical Language and Society environment, and culture as a normative symbolic system (Parsons 1968, VII:432). Because it is the normative component In action theory ’proper’ (Émile Durk- that integrates text and context, it stands out heim, Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, Alfred as a promising point to spotlight in a study Schutz, Anthony Giddens ...) social norms of discouse. Yet, before empirical investi- are regarded as the regulator of human ac- gation of such an object can be embarked tions. Still, there are divergent understan- upon, its ontological status needs to be dings of the nature of social norms and considered in order to find methodical ap- the processes through which their regula- proaches through which to grasp it. The tory function is achieved. In brief, a move- internal structure of the object must also ment has taken place in action theory to- be brought out in order to encircle the spe- wards explicitly semiotic conceptions of cific point to concentrate on within the social norms. Max Weber points to the normative component itself. meaningful aspect of social norms and the Since a clarification of these two mat- way they form cultural meaning systems ters presupposes an understanding of what (Parsons 1968, VII:433). The conception a semiotic normative component is, a few of social norms as semiotic constructs is lines will be spent on that issue first. In even clearer in phenomenological ethno- semiotics, it will be recalled, an ’object’ is methodology with its qualification of com- not said to be a sign on the basis of some mon-sense reality as – in Schutz’ wording – fixed ontological criterium. Rather, a sign ’sedimentation of meaning’ (Natanson is everything that can be taken as signifi- 1968). Yet, the semiotic structure of social cantly substituting for something else (Eco norms is not brought to the fore in socio- 1979:7). A sign is something which stands logical thought. Rather, it is my interpreta- ’to somebody in some respect or capacity’ tion, buttressed by ideas from sociosemio- (Pierce, cited from Eco 1979:15). It is the tics and text norm theory. functional relationship, established by so- By this excursion to action theory, it is cial convention, between ’the something’ made plausible that what mediates between that stands for ’something else’ which is the communicative actions carried by texts and defining criterium of the sign (cp Eco their contexts (or communicative situa- 1979:7&16, Nöth 1990:15&42). In Hjelms- tions), is a normative component. This lev’s formulation, there is a relation of soli- normative component is the integrating darity between expression (’something’) and device that moulds the constitutive parts content (’something else’): a sign function text and context into the functional whole holding between the two functives (expres- discourse. The normative constituent is of- sion and content) of the sign (Nöth 1990:70). ten labelled code in semiotic models of Within both functives, Hjelmslev distin- communication such as the famous one by guishes between form and substance. By this Roman Jakobson (1960). It holds semiotic procedure, he dissolves the indeterminacy resources of two kinds: 1) sign systems as to whether the sign vehicle (expression) ’proper’ (i.e. language and music) and 2) is to be understood as ’a particular physical norms for situated use of sign systems (i.e. event or object’ (Morris 1946:96, 367, cited text norms) (page 185). from Nöth 1990:80) or as a mental object

188 – as in Saussure’s conception of the sig- the function that the tripartite norm struc- nifier as a ’psychological imprint’ or ’acous- ture is set to fulfil, namely to mediate be- tic image’. What Hjelmslev’s differentia- tween texts and contexts. The hinge of tion achieves, is to assign the physical and sociosemiotic thought is an understanding physiological expression-substance to the realm of both language and situation, as well as of physics and psychology, and to give pri- their linkage through text norms, as based ority within semiotic inquiry to the expres- on semiotic social norms. In epitome, the sion-form, which is said to be the abstract normative component holding between conceptual structure of the expression text and context can be described as three (Nöth 1990:80).7 interrelated norms in the following way: It Let me demonstrate this sign concept consists of the semiotic repertoire of soci- by explicating the sign function of human ety (i.e. situation types), which is connected language. Language as a semiotic system is to the semiotic repertoire of language (i.e. constituted by lexico-grammatical forms the linguistic system) through a third norm: (the expression side of the sign) which rea- the repertoire of linguistic actions (i.e. text lise semantic meaning (the content side of norms).8 the sign). The standard way to illustrate the The qualification of situation as a semio- arbitrary and conventional nature of the tic construct is not as mysterious as it relation between expression and content, is might seem at first eyesight. The funda- to compare lexical items from different mental idea can be traced in various social languages. The expression-forms fløte sciences, such as sociology, anthropology (Norwegian), grädde (Swedish) and rjómi and ethnography. A pertinent example is (Icelandic) all have the same semantic con- the ’microsociology-of-knowlegde’-school tent – a content that in English is carried as it is presented by Berger and Luckmann by the expression-form cream. (This exposi- (1991 [1966]). In this tradition social reality tion applies to what André Martinet la- or society (which equals culture in ethnogra- belled the ’first articulation’ of language – phic terms) is defined as socially constitu- its meaningful forms. What is special to ted knowledge or meaning (Hudson language as a semiotic system, is the fact 1980:74, cp Halliday 1990:81, 126&169). that these meaningful forms in their turn What is captured by such a semiotic defini- are realised by the ’second articulation’ of tion of situation, is the typeness of any gi- language – the meaning differentiating ven instance of context. The indetermi- sound system, the phonemes, of language.) nacy that pertains to the concept context in Loaded with this semiotic weaponry, let many frameworks between basically mate- me now dismember the complexity of the rial interpretations and more sociocogni- normative component that mediates be- tive ones, is resolved in the sociosemiotic tween text and context in order to zoom in perspective through its apprehension of on the part to be scrutinized in my study, extralinguistic reality as a semiotic edifice: namely text norms. An object can be broken Physical reality is regarded as the expres- down in different ways, depending on sion of semiotic content.9 theoretical perspective and research inter- It is less controversial to regard language ests. A sociosemiotic analysis brings out as a semiotic system, as it is the prototypi- the following constituents within the nor- cal one. The situated evolution of human mative component: language, text norms and language has resulted in a naturally de- situation. This break-down is motivated by signed communication system construed

189 around three basic metafunctions: the idea- function that makes it possible to anchor tional, the interpersonal and the textual. Peop- text-borne messages in their non-textual le do more things simultaneously when context. The interpersonal function is also they act communicatively. For one thing, known as the intruder function; the textual they present ’states of affaires’ – experien- as the relevance function (Halliday 1990:48 ces with the ’inner’ and ’outer’ world, as &112f). well as experiences that are already formu- The lexicogrammatical and semantic lated in signs. In doing this, actors employ norms of the world’s linguistic systems the communicative function which is cal- constitute different languages – such as led ideational in sociosemiotic terms.10 It is English and Norwegian. In comparison, sometimes referred to as the observer func- text norms do not form different languages, tion. It is the function which infuses texts but rather different registers and genres, that with ’content’ – to use the dichotomous can be transferred across language barriers. ’form content’-terminology which is wide- Compare the way journalistic text norms spread in textual studies. However, there travel across various kinds of boundaries are also other aspects to communicative (between different linguistic communities, actions – aspects which are often lumped different media, different [sub-]genres ...). together under the cover heading ’form’ in the binary conceptualisation mentioned, and often considered to be ancillary to the Social Norms and Text Norms ’content’-function. In the sociosemiotic Time has come to offer definitions both of perspective, this remainder category is fur- social norms in general and of the sub-group ther decomposed so as to spell out the na- text norms. Social norms are socially establi- ture of the other functions residing in shed semiotic constructs that generate hu- communicative actions. When allowed to man action, judgement, evaluation, percep- come out in their own right, these func- tion, affection and cognition when instanti- tions take on important roles that are not ated in specific situations (Berge 1990:30; merely subservient to the ’content’ one. In Williams 1968:204ff). In so doing, they sociosemiotic theory, these other two or found human rationality. As a considerable three metafunctions are labelled the inter- amount of human activity is symbolic and personal function, which embraces the expres- takes place through texts, quite a few of sive function, and the textual function. They are our social norms are text norms. Text norms fairly different in nature. The interpersonal can be defined as conventional expecta- function enable participants to parttake in tions concerning textual behaviour and social relationships, and to mark them on guide lines for such behaviour (Berge the dimensions of social hierarchy and 1990:51). solidarity, whereas the expressive function provides actors with means for expressing their subjectivity and social identity. The Routes to Text Norms last function mentioned, the textual func- Now that radio text norms have been picked tion, allows participants to combine the out as the point within radio discourse to different aspects of their communicative focus on in my inquiry, and then given a actions into composite wholes that consti- fuller definition – both as an isolated con- tute or form parts of coherent texts. Last, cept and in terms its position within the in- but not least, it is this enabling textual tegrated whole of discourse, it is time to

190 consider methodical issues. How does one sistencies in textual patterns, which can be set about to examine text norms? The first regarded as empirical evidence (or observ- requirement to be met in an empirical in- able consequences) of an underlying norm vestigation, is to localise the object of study. (cp Berge 1990:42f, 54 & 67; Bhatia 1993: Where are text norms situated? What is their 22ff). This is the primary approach in my ontological status? The only place to look study. It will be fleshed out in more detail for something, is in material reality. In a on page 196ff. first approach, one can therefore lay down The other basic way to conduct re- as a bridging hypothesis that text norms – search on human behaviour and its norma- defined as ’the conventional expectations tive foundation is to bring out the actors’ and guide lines for textual behaviour’ – will own judgements on what they are doing be manifested in textual behaviour. My ex- with the aid of various investigation tech- plicit interpretation of social norms as niques. In the case of journalistic ideals semiotic constructs takes us a bit further in and professional standards for programme encircling what part of the norm which is production and textual presentation in a exhibited in human activity, namely its ex- broadcasting corporation, such methods pression. As norms are signs, there is a sign include sitting in on editorial discussions, function at work: an expression side re- looking into sources like internal publica- lated to a content side (cf page 188). The tions (Annual Reports and Accounts, po- conventional meaning of norms (their licy documents, internal magazines, hand- content) is expressed in (typical) human books and guidelines in journalistic pro- behaviour. From this it follows that the duction) and educational material (text- contents of text norms are embodied in books, courses etc in broadcasting journa- (typical) symbolic actions fused in texts. lism), as well as interviewing journalists, The questions is, then, what tools there programme producers and other staff on are for studying the typeness of text-borne their likes and dislikes in professional mat- linguistic behaviour. Stated in blanket ters. Imprints of the operating norms will terms, humanistic science has produced be found in the selection of matters dis- two approaches (and an accelerating num- cussed, in explicit and implicit assessments ber of methods) for researching social (both negative and positive), in pieces of norms. One basic methodology is to use advice, in sanctions etc. With reference to the actual behaviour itself as data, and the bridging hypothesis mentioned above, search for regularities in the activities participants’ evaluations as carried by such themselves. This research scheme is more vehicles can be regarded as outer projec- complicated than it sounds in that it in- tions of an underlying norm (cp Berge volves defining description categories and 1990:42&43 Bhatia 1993:22ff). In my procedures, as well as criteria for delimit- study, this approach will not be deployed in ing empirical data. Applied to my problem its own right. Rather, information gathered area, this approach can roughly be given as through such sources have guided my se- destilling text norms governing linguistic lection of texts to include in the corpus, behaviour on Norwegian radio from 1935 my formulation of research questions, and onwards on the basis of radio texts from the range of linguistic aspects to put under the relevant period. With reference to the scrutiny. In addition, these sources might semiotic norm conception presented function as a background against which to above, the procedure is to search for con- interpret text-analytical findings.11

191 What Is Evolution? in specific socio-historical situations, are the spurs of text norm evolution. They are There is a part of my study object that I, as what it takes for text norm innovations to yet, have not touched upon, which is ren- occure. For the time being, they are left out dered as diachronic shifts, alternatively as evo- of the picture. (Such matters will be tou- lution. As a preliminary – pragmatic and ched upon on page 201f.) The present sec- pre-theoretical – qualification, let us say tion concentrates on the ’internal forces’ or that ’text norm evolution’ refers to changes conditions – i.e. what it is in the nature of in ’ways of meaning’ that take place over text norms as semiotic systems that facili- time. tate evolution. Let me start charging the concept evolu- As mentioned, the condition for text tion with more content by recapitulating norm renewal is the built-in instability and what was stated in section 3.5 on the exist- variability of the norm system itself. This ence mode of semiotic systems: They exist synchronic variation opens up to dia- in actual use. Sociosemiotics is a context- chronic shifts. In opposition to de Saus- relational model of meaning (cp Lemke sure’s abstract and static conception of 1993:248). It underlines the way in which language, thinkers in the counterstream of language and its derived connotative semi- European semiotic thought argue that lan- otic systems (registers and genres) are cre- guage is not a stable system of identical ated, maintained and changed in constant forms. Rather, it exists by virtue of con- exchange with their environment. When taining conflicting norm systems, which re- these systems are employed (instantiated) fers to conflicts in society (Voloshinov in actual use, the instantiations have a ret- 1986; Berge 1990:57). roactive potential to change the systems Now, what is it in the nature of semio- themselves. As it is put in Mukarovsky’s tic systems that caters for this internal formulation: variation? The answer rings as one con- templates the ontological status of such Every norm changes by nature of the fact that it is systems: the sign function itself (the rela- constantly applied, and it must adjust itself to new tion between expression and content pla- circumstances which arise as a result of these new nes) and the existence mode of signs (their applications (1970:31, cited from Berge ’life’ in actors’ situated communicative 1990:56). acts). In other words, the answer lies in the As Halliday points out, complex semiotic process of interpretation – in the never- systems are unstable; they persist only ending semiosis, in Pierce’s formulation. through change; their state of being is be- As mentioned, the fundamental insight of coming (Halliday & Martin 1993:110).12 semiotics concerns the arbitrary nature of The evolution of any complex semiotic the relation between the content and ex- system has a mixed background in both pression planes of the sign. Since this rela- ’internal forces’, ie the instability and vari- tion is conventional, founded on norms, it ability of the system itself (cp Halliday means – in the case of language and its de- 1993:109, Berge 1990:59), and ’external rived connotative systems – that the rela- forces’, ie medium-specific properties and tions between lexiocogrammar (expres- the social functions that the system is set sion), semantics (denotative content) and to fulfil (Halliday 1993:110). The external text norms (connotative content, i.e. regis- socio-technological driving forces, rooted ters and genres) are not fixed, but open to

192 constant renegotiation as the systems are lopmental trajectory of the type evolves. applied in situated use. Addressors and ad- Evolution occurs when individuation leads dressees employ their incorporated norms to a novel dynamic stage by the new trajec- – their linguistic and communicative com- tory being recapitulated in a significant petence – in order to produce and inter- number of successor individuals (Lemke pret messages, i.e.: to establish connections 1993:257, cp Berge 1990:116). between the situation of the communica- The process of individuation takes pla- tive event, the semantic content of the ce, not only in biological systems, but also communicative acts, and the observable in semiotic ones as individual texts never lexicogrammatical forms which are used to reproduce their underlying semiotic norm carry this content in this situation. As there systems in full and identical form. Rather, is hardly ever full agreement between the texts are unique interpretations of a norm. addressor’s and addressee’s competence, As such, they represent a dynamic poten- various (mis)understandings are liable to tial for change (cp Berge 1990:62) through occur. In turn, this might give rise to norm the same kind of individuating process ajustments (Berge 1990: 60ff).13 which has just been described for biologi- When shifting focus from the actors to cal systems. The early history of NRK can their semiotic resources, such conflicts be used for illustration. It holds many ex- within or among actors on what normative amples of strong, independent radio jour- standards to go by in situated behaviour, nalists who found their own ’ways of mea- linguistic or otherwise, come across as con- ning’ in the pioneer days and passed them flicting, colliding or heterogeneous norm systems – on to coming generations of radio report- in the somewhat ’metaphysical’ semiotic ers so that new radio text norms were es- jargon. tablished (cp Dahl 1991:113ff). When contradictory norm systems un- fold in texts, they might collide and pro- duce new systems (Berge 1990:58). The Delimitation of Problem Area process through which such synchronic As mentioned earlier text norms are mani- presence of variation and conflicting fested as regularities in actual textual be- norms opens up to diachronic shifts over haviour. If textual patterns are to be seized time has been labelled individuation (cp in an empirical study, they must be given Lemke 1993:257). operationalised definitions. For practical as It is individuation that is the root of well as theoretical reasons, there is also a evolution. The concept itself is taken from need to single out the most relevant subset biology, where it mediates between two of text norms to put under scrutiny. Let types of biological change: the develop- me first identify the textual level on which ment of the individual and the evolution regularities indicative of norms can be of the species. An individual only recapitu- searched out. Text has been defined as a lates its species (its type) in general. In medium for social action, which is to say many specific ways it is unique. This means that a text is a pragmatic-semantic unit. It that the individual’s developmental trajec- consists of communicative act(s) sustained tory can deviate from the type-trajectory in by semantic meanings. Its meanings (i.e. a way that might be passed on to future in- content) are expressed through lexico- dividuals. By this individuation, the deve- grammatical forms – i.e. words and struc-

193 tures. This is to say that consistencies in factors suggest that it is not so much the text-conveyed social actions can be found ’content’ of media messages as it is their by surveying lexicogrammatical structures ’form’ that is medium-sensitive and liable in texts (cp Halliday & Hasan 1990:10). to be affected by the specificity of mass Now, language is a multifarious semi- media contexts. Therefore, the searchlight otic system, and verbal texts carry different is directed at text norms concerning ’pre- kinds of meanings (page 188f). As discus- sentational forms’. They fall in two groups: sed at some length in previous section, I 1) those that are means through which ra- am primarily interested in text norms, not dio performers’ and listeners’ identities, as in semantic meaning as realised by lexico- well as the participants’ role relationships, grammatical forms per se. However, text are constructed (style, tone, level of for- norms appear in texts as specific configu- mality, forms of mention and address, rations of meanings, associated with speci- turn-taking rights ...) and 2) those that are fic situation types (cp Halliday & Hasan means through which radio texts are real- 1990:38f). Thus, they are indirectly expres- ised as wholes and anchored in context via sed by lexicogrammatical forms too. In so- various cohesive bonds (including deictic ciosemiotics, this ’double use’ of lexico- expressions), montage techniques, formats grammatical forms is sometimes given as a generally, and verbal formats especially – ’realisation circle’ between language and such as monologue, dialogue, interview, text norms (cp Ventola 1987:63). Language debate, and other multi-voice speech ex- as a semiotic system has its own means of change systems. In sociosemiotic terminol- organising expression, namely phonology ogy, text norms of the first type are real- (op cit:57), whereas text norms constitute a ised via interpersonal and expressive meanings, second-order semiotic system – a connota- whereas type two text norms are expressed tive one – with no articulation in its own by textual meanings. right. Rather, it uses language for its reali- These two lines of ’presentational form’ sation (Ventola 1987:57, Barthes 1967:30). converge on the spoken-written dimen- Text norms pertain to the whole spect- sion. For reasons to be dwelt with on page rum of higher-order textual patterns asso- 197, it is this dimension that is marked out ciated with typical social situations. There- for a closer inspection in my study. Steered fore, the scope of inquiry in an empirical by my listening in NRK’s archives, I have study of text norms must be narrowed chosen to give special emphasis to the fol- down. My actual delimitation has been in- lowing three impact points on the spoken- formed by three factors: 1) a central hy- written dimension: pothesis in sociosemiotic theory on the re- 1) the handling of the speech situation co- lationship between semantic meanings and ordinates (time, space and participants). contextual aspects known as the ’meta- functional hook-up hypothesis’ (cp Ventola 2) methods for textual production – i.e. 1987:38); 2) the specificity of radio con- pre-planning strategies (scripting and texts, namely their special spatio-temporal rehearsal) and post-processing techni- arrangement of participants (cp page 184f ques (editing), and and also page 195 below); and 3) my own 3) interactional characteristics (monologue listening to taped radio programmes up versus dialogue formats). through the decades. In epitome, all these

194 The Double Doubleness longer provides spatio-temporal connec- of Radio Context tions that safeguard a comprehensible, co- herent world, and that this work needs to [The broadcasting] puts the listener in direct connec- be taken over by social processes. Accord- tion with the speaker. And the public is able to hear ing to Anthony Giddens, this is the source just as well as if they had been present. This is of modernity’s dynamism (1990:17). much more valuable than to read a lecture, for in- The most urgent problem that needed stance in a paper. The direct connection between the to be solved when language is put to use in performer and his auditorium is the most essential mediated communicative events, stems aspect of broadcasting. The other essential aspect is from the fact that language as a semiotic that one does not need to be present. Hereby, the au- system is situated in nature, owing to its ditorium of the speaker becomes infinitely much big- evolution in fixed spatio-temporal contexts ger. It grows from a few hundreds or thousands to ten (Benveniste 1971:219, Ducrot 1984, thousands, to hundred thousands. A speaker can di- Halliday & Hasan 1990:45). Therefore, ut- rectly address a million people, a whole population.14 terances contain traces of the actual com- (Statement by director Nickelsen, The Nor- municative event(s) which fostered them, wegian Board of Telegraphy, in his inaugu- in the form of deictic expressions pointing ration speech on the opening of the first to the participants, time, and space of the Norwegian broadcasting company in De- engendering context (cp Nöth 1990:332; cember 1924; cited from Dahl 1991:28.) Benveniste 1971:217-222). Given the man- ner in which linguistic texts, as a result of An appreciation of radio contexts and this mechanism, encapsulate their context, their influence on text norm formation in the crucial problem when communicating radio discourse needs to start from the spa- through technologically mediated texts is tio-temporal specificity of the radio situa- to find ways of producing integrated mes- tion, which is rooted in the application of sages in communication situations that are radio technology for broadcasting purpo- discontinuous spatially, and ambiguous ses. Radio talk is situated in a communica- temporally. tion situation that is minimally double in at Second, the context of radio talk can be least one dimension: space. In most cases temporally double in more ways: Actual there is not only a disjunction of place, but performances are, for the most part, more also of time, between communicator and or less pre-planned, scripted and rehearsed audience (cp Bell 1991:85). There are three (cp Goffman 1974:53ff).15 Technological consequences of this spatio-temporal equipment for recording and editing has distantiation that invite further comment. complicated the temporal dimension fur- First, when the participants in the com- ther in facilitating extra temporal layer(s) municative event are not connected of editing and delayed transmission. through the situatedness of place (Giddens Third, the spatial doubleness of radio 1991:16) – as is the case in face-to-face contexts imposes definite limits on the communication – this brings about certain type of interaction that can take place problems of time-space coordination. through the radio medium. There can be When the dimension of space is liberated no interaction between the two main par- from concrete places and the dimension of ties in the communicative event, the ad- time is no longer bound to natural dressor (radio performer[s]) and the ad- rhythms, it means that physical nature no dressee (radio listeners). Disparate com-

195 pensatory strategies have emerged because constructs residing in human actions (cf of this deficit, which is universal to mass page 190f, text norms are manifested in communication media. In the case of radio textual regularities. So, what is needed for broadcasting, these strategies include postal conducting empirical research on shifts in listener contact, listener activation, and for- text norms pertaining to the radio’s ’pre- mats with different kinds of listener par- sentational forms’, are some scalpels for ticipation – such as studio shows and pho- dissecting radio texts that will make consis- ne-ins. Still, this does not alter the fact that tencies and inconsistencies in presenta- the communicative party of the audience tional text patterns stand out. For the un- as a whole has no means of interactive par- dertaking of that job I have designed an ticipation. When a radio reporter addresses instrument labelled ’diachronic register her radio audience directly, she is forced to analysis’. It consists of more interconnect- do so through monologue formats. How- ing parts. Some modules are fully formal- ever, the spatial separation of participants ised in terms of lexicogrammatical de- makes it opportune to construct complex scription, whereas others are more supple. situations with embedded communicative What my investigation technique achieves, circuits. Interaction on a certain level can is to identify a further specified set of re- be introduced with the aid of miscella- curring textual constellations on different neous multi-voice formats such as split levels of delicacy in actual texts, and make narration, discussions, interviews and ga- differences come out. me shows. The communicative interaction Since this analytical framework is a me- between radio performers participating in ticulous grid, details will have to be left such formats takes place in an ’inner com- aside. This chapter is devoted to the radio municative circuit’. This circuit as a whole text corpus. It deals with a method for ex- occupies the addressor role in the ’outer orcising historical shifts in text norms and communicative circuit’, in which the radio present crude versions of the model’s lin- audience holds the addressee role. The guistic parameters. They represent an ope- spatial dimension can be further multiplied rationalisation of the spoken-written di- – for instance by the presence of a live au- mension with the three focal points that dience in studio-based programmes. The were picked out as particularily salient to interaction between the studio audience the evolution of radio presentational and the ’inner-most situation’ of the host forms in section 4: 1) spoken-written quali- and her guests then forms a mediating cir- ties in general, 2) time-space transforma- cuit between the ’inner-most’ situation and tions, 3) discourse processing techniques, the ’outer situation’. Thus, the mediating and 4) interactional characteristics. Because circuit is constituted by the radiation of quantitative counts and statistical handling the ’inner-most’ situation as a whole func- of the spoken-written parameters remain tioning in the addressor role and the studio to be performed, no results will be be re- audience functioning in the addressee role. ported from the general screening of spo- ken-written qualities (cp page 197). For the Empirical Approaches three pin-pointed domains on the spoken- written dimension, my tentative analytical and Preliminary Findings try-outs have produced some preliminary According to the semiotic-phenomenologi- findings, which confirm the impressions cal concept of social norms as meaningful that I have gained from extensive listening

196 to radio productions in NRK’s archives. broad wording, my text analytical proce- Nevertheless, what is presented as prelimi- dure for identifying the radio’s text norms nary findings below, should be regarded as and pinning down their evolution, is to hypotheses in need of further testing. ’sift’ radio texts dating 1935 till 1980 through an analytical net that catches cer- tain predefined linguistic patterns, and Data then make comparisons across texts by way As already mentioned my primary data of a contrastive method. The contrastive consist of radio texts, which have been analyses are partly qualitative (through il- transcribed, segmented and indexed so as lustrative examples), partly quantitative to make them accessible for detailed lin- (through descriptive statistical measure- guistic analysis. Both linguistic transcrip- ments of lexicogrammatical parameters). tion and further data preparation are me- As my database comprises texts from a ticulous and time-consuming procedures. fairly extended period (1935-1980), dia- Therefore, a corpus of spoken data for chronic continuities and shifts will stand fine-grained linguistic analysis has to be re- out fairly clearly. As touched upon in pre- stricted. To a certain extent, my selection vious section, the total number of texts in- of data was governed by the content and cluded in the corpus is low – for practical organisation of NRK’s archives. Three of reasons. This limitation means that the the most prominent radio journalists in spread of data across the historical period NRK’s history are used as ’cases’: Arthur to be covered is fairly thin. Hence, the em- Klæbo (texts from 1936, 1956, 1957, 1971 pirical verifications to be offered in this and 1978), Rolf Kirkvaag (texts from 1947, study merely amount to some examplary 1948, 1949, 1952, 1956, 1959 and 1970) dives into the radiophonic ocean of the and Toralv Øksnevad (texts from 1935, past. 1936, 1938, 1965 and 1971). These three radio reporters are widely acknowledged for their influential and innovative journa- Capturing Contours of Secondary Orality listic practice. The corpus also comprise The reason why the linguistic description some miscellaneous texts for the illustra- in this study fastens on the spoken-written tion of certain points. All in all, there are dimension is simple. In the sections Wider around 25 text in the corpus (in duration Implications of Object of Study, and The Double between 4 minutes and 1 1/2 hours each), Doubleness of Radio Context, I watched radio which sum up to about 14 hours of recor- discourse from two different vistas: 1) the dings. The number of running words is characteristic communication situation of around 70 000. Only monologue and dia- the radio medium, and 2) the social func- logue formats have been included, whereas tions of radio discourse. When shifting the other multi-voice formats are left out. perspective to the semiotic means that me- diate between situations and functions, our eyes fall upon the focal point of ’the ora- Capturing Diachronic Change lity-and-literacy paradigm’ – an interdisci- Before describing my analytical model in plinary humanistic field that covers the terms of linguistic parameters, let me complex issue of socio-psychological con- sketch how it is to be used in order to seize sequences of orality and literacy. From this the dynamic aspect of text history. In angle, the abstraction and explosion of the

197 time and space dimensions effected by As indicated in a former section, the modern technologies for handling infor- three aspects of ’presentational form’ that mation and communication, is seen as ’the were identified as loci for text norm transi- technologising of the word’ – the transi- tion on the radio – 1) time-space configu- tion from speech to writing, and further on rations and participants’ role relationships, to hybrid mixtures which characterise ’se- 2) text processing techniques, and 3) condary orality’: ’the orality of telephones, interactional characteristics – are all related radio, and television, which depends on to the spoken-written dimension. They writing and print for its existence’ in represent close-up pictures of specific do- Walter Ong’s words (1990:3). minions within the dimension. The composite circumstances of lan- guage production on the radio pave the way for texts reflecting more situations. To Capturing Time-Spaces a large extent, radio talk consists of basi- The first close-up picture brings to light cally written language transformed to spo- the different solutions to the coordination ken language. By this productional proce- problems created by the time-space con- dure, both the writing situation of manu- figurations of the radio medium. The in- script production and the oral situation of vestigation technique is to analyse patterns actual speech delivery are liable to be en- in the use of deictic expressions of time, capsulated in the text itself. Besides, a third space and participants. Such expressions situation intervenes through the conscious perform textual jobs in the discourse. They awareness of the listeners ’out there’. In serve to anchor the subject matters dis- the case of ’multi-voice’ formats, the situa- cussed (’the topical plane’ of discourse, to tional complexity is even greater, and there use the terminology of enunciation theo- will be indices in the text of the various ry) in the actual context (’the discourse pla- embedded communicative circuits. These ne’) (Benveniste 1959 & 1971, Ducrot intertwined productional and situational 1984, Larsen 1989:12). threads engender texts which are hete- The purpose of this part of the analysis roglossic on the spoken-written dimension. is to track the historically-specific means It is this hybrid nature of radio texts that radio discourse has come up with in that is to be diagnosed through a variety of order to overcome (?) the insurmountable register analysis, i.e. a quantitative registra- time-space barrier between senders and re- tion of selected ’spoken-written’ param- ceivers. My preliminary findings on this eters. The specific selection of linguistic part of the project suggest that various parameters for such an analysis has been text strategies have evolved – strategies guided by the aboundant findings from the that define the relationship between the ”the spoken and written discourse ap- participants in different ways. I have coi- proach”. In particular, studies by Wallace ned some metaphorical captions through Chafe (Chafe & Danielewicz 1987, Chafe which to grasp the essence of the different & Tannen 1987) and Douglas Biber (Biber semiotic construals of radio context. In a 1991, Biber & Finegan (eds) 1994, Biber & rough chronological order, there are strate- Hared 1992), as well as a Norwegian study gies of suppression, miracle, exclusion, and on spoken syntax (Hanssen et al 1978), simulated interaction.16 The suppression have been exploited. strategy is the solution that has evolved in

198 writing as a means for liberating the text al 1990) in the texts themselves. To a from its immediate non-textual context. In trained ear, these yield a fairly good picture its purest variety, it generates texts that are of the degree to which a text passage is not anchored neither in time, place or par- preplanned. In order to ’freeze’ the impres- ticipants, but rather rest in themselves. The sions that are thus gained, they have been miracle strategy is a contrary solution. It written down in the transcripts with the aid makes the most of the participants’s spatial of some notational conventions for de- separation, while emphasising their tempo- scribing speech management phenomena ral unity in a text strategy that underlines and paralinguistic features in general. Next, the miracle of the new medium. The ex- they are both inspected by eye in order to clusion strategy excludes the listeners from assess the alternation in pre-planning de- the communicative event by referring to gree, and surveyed by machine for quanti- them in third person – the listener(s). The tative measurements. Then, main tenden- latest solution, simulated interaction, em- cies are extracted. However, there are obvi- ploys direct address in second person (you) ous pitfalls to this approach. One of them – thereby simulating the counterpart’s is the competence skilled reporters have in presence.17 concealing discourse pre-planning on de- livery in order to produce an impression of ’fresh talk’. Capturing Text Production Processes As for the tentative outcome of this ex- As touched upon, the time-space distantia- amination of text productional techniques, tion of radio discourse opens up to various the main trend is that full scripting – in ei- text processing techniques which are not ther monologue or dialogue format – is available in face-to-face communication. gradually replaced by text processing strat- Some of them are more or less specific to egies that combine pre-planned global co- the radio medium. My next close-up pho- herence with local spontaneity (whether re- tograph is meant to catch changes in text hearsed or fresh). Post-editing as a means productional processes such as preplan- for altering a text’s over-all structure enters ning and post-processing techniques. How- the scene fairly late. ever, it is not a straight-forward task to de- vise analytical tools for this purpose. Evi- dently, the best way to study textual Capturing Interaction productional methods such as scripting My third close-up shot focuses on inter- and editing in existing productions, would actional characteristics in dialogue formats. have been to compare final texts with do- In designing a not fully formalised method cumentation on the textual production for analysing such aspects, I take the turn- process (working notes, manuscripts, run- taking system of ordinary conversation as ning schedules, unedited recordings, pre- a point of departure, and regard this as a liminary productions). Unfortunately, this base-line system from which all other is not feasible as notes, manuscripts and speech exchange systems derive. Radio raw recordings are – for the most part – speech exchange systems can then be des- unrecoverable. So, the second-best solution cribed in terms of how they deviate from is opted for, namely to go by various pro- the turn-taking system of ordinary conver- sodic, lexical, syntactic and pragmatic sation (cf Heritage, Clayman & Zimmer- ’speech management cues’ (cp Allwood et mann 1988). Turn-taking mechanisms in

199 ordinary conversation have been thor- Norwegian news agency NTB, reading of oughly researched in the Anglo-American stock exchange information, and recitation conversation analysis (CA) tradition (Sacks, of literature – including drama (Dahl Schegloff & Jefferson 1974; Greatbatch 1991:30ff). All these genres are thoroughly 1986, 1988, 1991; Clayman 1991; prepared through writing and rehearsal, Greatbatch & Heritage 1991). On the basis and they are predominantly monologue of CA-findings, an inventory of speech ex- ones.18 Gradually, multi-voice formats with change mechanisms in ordinary conversa- interactional characteristics, more or less tion can be established. The model of or- imitative of ordinary turn-taking, were in- dinary conversation that is thus created, is troduced. The innovation center seems to then used for scrutinising texts in my data- have been programmes directed at children base by way of a norm-and-deviance ap- and youth, in addition to entertainment proach. What emerges from this undertak- programmes. ing, is the shapes of different radio speech So, there is a both qualitative and quan- exchange systems – and their evolution. titative transition from monologue formats Since this part of my textual explora- towards formats with interaction of vari- tion is still under way, what can be repor- ous kinds. In combination with the speech ted at this stage are merely some rudimen- processing parameter, the different stages tary results. In crude terms, what my analy- from a monological and written idiom of sis in embryo tracks, is an evolution from production and delivery towards interactio- formats with no exchange (monologues, nal speech are tentatively characterised by such as lectures and recitals) to formats the following labels:19 with interactional characteristics and more 1) Scripted monologue or less orientation towards normal conver- 2) Scripted dialogue sation (interviews, panel debates, phone- ins ...). 3) Scripted diamonologue Let me add some historical details to 4) Hybrid talk (monologue and dialogue) this point, in concentrating on the early 5) Semi-spontanious talk formation of broadcasting genres. When 6) Staged and edited talk broadcasting entered the social scene in the 1920s, its text norms were transferred As indicated, these different steps on the from situations that in certain respects evolutionary ladder of radio formats are ressembled the radio situation. The genres chronologically ordered. However, two in question all have two properties in com- major reservations need to be introduced. mon: 1) Physically, their messages are car- First, the evolution of the the radio medi- ried by sound waves, and 2) Participants um’s secondary orality is meandering. It are asymmetrically arranged, often in a does not necessarily progress in a clearly ’one-to-many’ set-up, with no interaction defined linear direction. Second, the histo- between addressor and addressee. Apart rically older ways of radio text production from weather forecasts and fishery infor- still belong to the repertoire in later phases, mation, radio broadcasting in the early days but they are no longer as pervasive as they was entirely made up of elements from were in earlier times. Rather, they are de- other media and art forms: concerts, thea- ployed for specific purposes in particular ter performances, records, lectures, reading radio genres – for instance in news read- of unedited news telegrammes from the ing, weather forecasts and causeries.

200 What Does It Mean? transmissions’ principal objective was to facilitate technical measurements, on the As suggested in previous sections, text basis of which to decide whether broad- norms crystallise in actual situations as casting was possible technologically in means through which to perform socio- Norway. In addition, one wanted to produ- historically given communicative tasks. ce a homely expertice in technical broad- They are also tinted by the perceptual-cog- casting matters. In searching for material to nitive and physical-technological layers of transmit, Kristiania Broadcasting, which mediation involved. With reference to this was the name of the experimental trans- knowledge on socio-technological pres- mittor of the Norwegian Telegraph Serv- sures in text norm evolution, the unfolding ice, followed in the radio amateurs’ tracks: of registers and genres on Norwegian ra- It merely fed on existing sound-based gen- dio can be read as an index to the various res (cp Dahl 1991:22-24). social functions and communicative goals The leap from ’radio’ to ’broadcasting’ that Norwegian radio has taken on up critically involved the qualification of so- through the 20th century. cial functions and communicative goals for Let me start to fill in on this vast sub- this new mass medium, as well as settling ject by casting a glance at the interplay be- numerous conflicts among actors, and set- tween social functions, communicative ting up (institutional) regulations (cp Dahl goals, and medium-specific properties in 1991:15ff). From the perspective of the the genesis of text norms in early Norwe- central actors on the Norwegian arena, the gian radio history. The fact that percep- private broadcasting corporations in the tual-technological characteristics of the 1920s,21 the most urgent enterprise was to medium itself excert determinative influ- qualify new social functions and communi- ence on the formation of text norms, is cative goals for the communicative situa- clearly demonstrated in the pioneering pe- tion serving as their justification: the one riods of radio amateurism and technologi- constituted by the broadcasting company cal experimentation. In the amateur period, as addressor, the general public as ad- communicative goals and functions were dressee, and radio texts – produced, trans- neither fixed, nor important. What counted mitted and received through radio technol- to the radio amateurs, was the thrilling ogy – as medium. magic of radio waves in itself. Activities of transmission and reception were self-moti- Is it too much to say that the art of rhetoric will vated, as it were. The objectives of the have a renaissance, and that the same will happen to amateurs were hardly communicative at all the art of education? Is it too much to say that the as they pertained to the medium itself. art of music will find its way into every home; can Consequently, the question about what to one doubt that music is on the threshold of a new transmit, was of little significance. In their era as measured by the amount of people it will be search for information on which to per- able to reach? form their hobby, the amateurs freely ex- How many benefactive seeds will not be sown in ploited existing sound-carried genres.20 the population by this means. Art and eloquence, In Norway, this kind of self-sufficient news and useful information, broadcasting comprises technological goal is even more striking everything that has spiritual value, and especially during the period of trial transmissions by those who live far from urban centers, will benefit the Telegraph Board (1923–1925). The from it.

201 From the very first moment, broadcasting will technological innovations and redefinitions have to focus on enlightenment. It will be able to of communicative functions and objec- bring something to everybody, as long as it does not tives, as projected into programming poli- bring boring things. It pervades all society, just as cies. The new obligations taken on by the sun and rain fall on all the country. And everybody NRK, after its constituion as a public ser- who want to, can participate, given a small amount vice broadcaster in 1933, have been char- of money. And just as rain and sun produce growth acterised as ’contributing in the construc- on earth, broadcasting will bring growth to the tion of the Norwegian nation’, ’adopting minds of people. (Extract from the speech by editorial principles summed up in the key the director of the Telegraph Board, Nickel- words ”socially beneficial”, ”Norwegian” sen, at the opening of the first Norwegian and ”independent editing”’, ’adapting to broadcasting company in 1925; cited from listener habits and listener text norms’, and Dahl 1991:28.)22 ’creating more symmetry and ”democracy” in the communication situation’ (cp Dahl In his inauguration speech at the opening 1975:258). As is well-known, the program- of the first Norwegian broadcasting com- ming policy of the NRK has undergone pany, the director of the Telegraph Board, substantial revisions since then. However, Nickelsen, identified the communicative space prevents me from pursuing that mat- obligation of broadcasting as ’enlighten- ter any further. Neither will I venture to ment for the general public’ (’folkeopplys- draw out in explicit terms the connections ning’). To serve this over-arching cultural between technological progress, alterations objective, he also pinned down an instru- in programming policies and text norm in- mental, more technical, goal – namely to novations.23 reach people living in far-away places. He merely hints at the general rhetorical strat- egies to be employed in orienting towards Summing Up the pin-pointed cultural goal, using words Let me round off this article by recapitu- like ’didactic’ (’oplæringskunsten’), but ’not lating my embryonic empirical findings boring’. However, he has more to say on and by proposing, in blanket terms, how to which existing genres to draw on: namely make sense of them on a cultural or rhetorical speeches (’veltalenheten’), music, societal level. My study departs from the art, news and useful information (’nyttig observation that present-day radio talk va- stoff ’). What this reading of Nickelsen’s ries along the spoken-written continuum, speech shows, is that Kringkastingsselska- and it sets about to disclose the growth in pet A/S inherited a supply of text norms linguistic ’presentational forms’ on Norwe- from other media, in an attempt to acco- gian radio (1935-1980). In epitome, the modate these text norms to its declared preliminary results indicate that the writ- communicative goals and functions. Only ten-spoken scale of present-day radio re- in the next round were text norms as gisters – streching from distanced, authori- means through which to orient towards tative (not to say authoritarian) registers to these newly defined communicative goals involved solidarity registers (cp Vagle moulded by their actual use as communica- 1990a & 1990b; Lomheim 1987:297) – also tive strategies. represent a diachronic movement. Regis- As radio history moves on, text norm ters with more spokenness are progres- renewals are continuously propelled by sively added to the existing writtenlike reg-

202 isters. To put the cultural implication of shifts in language practices – notably in the this outcome in a nut shell, what is media- crystallisation of new text norms (Halliday ted through such a continuous differentia- 1990, Berge 1990:37ff, Fairclough 1992:6). tion in ’ways of speaking’, is the increasing This is why the radio’s contribution to hu- complexity of modern society. Social man culture can be studied first and fore- changes do not just involve language: To a most through the history of radio genres. significant degree, they are constituted by

Notes in a landscape that is better known in com- munication and media studies. In the theo- 1. This is to say that my study fastens on the retical frameworks of these diciplines, dis- linguistic part of radio-messages. Quite a few course as a whole is generally known by the radio genres also accomodate semantic mea- label communication situation (alternatively: com- nings voiced by silence (!) or other semiotic municative situation), whereas the part that systems – systems that are thought of as mu- equals context in the sociosemiotic frame- sic, sound effects and ambient sounds in radio work, normally is broken down in smaller journalistic jargon. parts. In the most minimal formulation, it is 2. These characterisations of social functions said to consist of sender/author/addressor in public service broadcasting are taken and receiver/counterpart/addressee, which from studies primarily concerned with Nor- yields the ontologically founding parts of dic television. Some reservation is therefore the communicative situation as follows: ad- called upon as regards their application to dressor, text/medium and addressee (cp Lund- public service radio. To my knowledge, there sten forthcoming). (As the terminological are no probes into the social functions of superfluity on this point is of no conce- public service radio as a separate entity. quence to my inquiry, it will not be discus- 3. Similar ideas also haunt in phenomenologi- sed.) What materialises is the most basic cally inclined sociology (i.e. Alfred Schutz version of a communication model. and Erving Goffman), in the sociology-of- 6. The segment of sociolinguistic research that knowledge school of Berger and Luck- I am referring to in this connection, is often mann(1991 [1966]), and in anthropology labelled studies of ’varieties according to (Geertz 1973). use’. The distinction between ’varieties ac- 4. As there are more conceptualisations of the cording to user’ (dialects and sociolects) and sign’s ontological status within (socio)semio- ’varieties according to use’ (registers and tics, I add that my inclination is towards the genres) is a commonplace in sociolinguistics position of realist phenomenology – which (cp Hudson 1981:48, Halliday 1990:35, Hal- comes across in my presentation of the cen- liday & Hasan 1990:41, Biber 1994:51 and tral concept text norms. The phenomenologi- Romaine 1994:20). cal apprehension of signs is shared by most 7. Different terms are used in semiotics to de- researchers in the sociosemiotic ’school’. note the two parts of the sign. I use Hjelm- Conceptions might glide, though, and find slevian ones as these are in consonance with various middle positions between realist and my Hallidayan framework, which is heavily idealist formulations. influenced by Hjelmslev. I abstain from tak- 5. Let me spend a footnote on situating the ing a standpoint on the meaning theoretical sociosemiotic terms discourse, text and context controversy of whether the referent (Ogden

203 & Richards), object (Pierce) or designatum material reality: in human activity and its (Morris) is to be included in the sign con- offsprings. In philosophical and semiotic cept or not because it is of little relevance thought, the existence mode of signs, both from my phenomenological point of view. of signs as wholes and of their separate In this perspective, experiential phenomena, functives (expression and content), is appre- that are intentional in the phenomenological hended in various ways (cp Nöth 1990:80). sense and thus bound to human conscious- Do signs have a separate, spiritual or ab- ness, would in any case substitute for what is stract, mode of existence? Do they merely given as objects in the physical world in exist as the perceptum in an act of commu- other philosophies. Because the organisation nication? Are they constructs in the human of experience (or knowledge) in the indi- mind – or in society? Or do they only reside vidual actors’ minds is difficult to access, it in physical reality – in human behaviour and can be argued to leave it out of a semiotic cultural products thereof? The sociosemio- analysis. As is well-known, positions vary in tic perspective integrates viewpoints from phenomenological thought on the issue of more meaning theories – notably structural- what status physical reality should be given. ist, pragmatic and phenomenological ones. Husserl himself worked his way towards an Still, it holds that the only place signs live idealist position (Lyons 1968:28), whereas and can be observed is in actual use. In line phenomenological sociologists such as with Umberto Eco’s view, the material ex- Schutz and Goffman include physical reality pression in social discourse is regarded as in their analyses. the only testable subject matter. In Eco’s 8. Within the sociosemiotic perspective, termi- words: ’What is behind, before or after [...] nology for designating the middle part of [is] beyond the semiotic threshold’ (1979: this tripartite norm complex, the connection 317). between language and situation, has changed 12. This dynamic conception of language and somewhat during the four decades or so of text norms is voiced, not only in sociose- the theory’s existence. I use the term text miotic linguistics, but also in other ’schools’ norms (taken from Berge 1990) as a superor- belonging to the counterstream in the Euro- dinate term for registers and genres. The dis- pean semiotic tradition after de Saussure. tinction between register and genre is not pre- Central names are Bakhtin (1992), Voloshi- sent in Halliday; it has been introduced by nov (1986), Mukarovsky (1970 & 1978), and some of his followers (see Ventola 1978, Lotman (1990; Lotman et al 1975). Martin 1992). 13. Social actors have achieved competence in 9. The question whether physical reality also social action by way of participating in such exists in its own right, as it were, is beside action. Because the actors’ social back- the point. In my philosophy, it does. grounds vary, they will not have access to 10. In other theories, equivalents of the idea- the same range of social situations. This en- tional function are known by denominators tails that they incorporate somewhat differ- such as referential, informational, (re)presentatio- ent norm sets. In other words, knowledge nal, descriptive, cognitive, assertive, constative, and on how to handle various social situations is symbolic. asymmetrically distributed among actors (cp 11. Agile readers might have noticed that I in Berge 1990:61ff). Such norm incongruence this discussion on where to localise norms might take more forms. For one thing, ac- have not committed myself to any stand- tors might disagree on what norm to apply point on the controversial meaning-theoreti- in a given situation. To take a familiar exam- cal issue of where the ’meaning’ part of the ple from the institution of the family, par- norm sign is to be found. I have only stated ents might have different opinions on what that the expression part – to be more pre- norms to be guided by in a given child-par- cise: the expression-substance – appears in ent conflict. Another form of norm incon-

204 gruence materialises when actors agree on 18. Actually, quite a few of these genres had al- what norm to apply, but hold different ready been exploited in the pioneer periods views on what situational choices to make of amateur radio and technological experi- from the system. Such incompatible inter- mentation. pretations of what constitutes ’correct’ situ- 19. Text examples are given in the appendix un- ated application of the norm, amounts to a der the heading ’Interactional modes and conflict between different varieties of the degrees of pre-planning’. same norm system. Some norms are heavily 20. In this connection, it deserves mentioning marked by this kind of built-in contradic- that the radio amateurs’ activities were seve- tions. To a Norwegian, evident examples are rely hampered in Norway, as in the rest of the two written standards of Norwegian. Europe, by prohibitive legislation during They both hold a multitude of orthographic World War I. In Norway, it was illegal, offi- as well as morphological ’free’ choices, and cially, to listen to the radio until October interpretations vary both on what choices to 1924 (Dahl 1991:19). make in which situations and on what selec- 21. The most influential one was the one in tions to combine in order to create internal Oslo, Kringkastingsselskapet A/S (in opera- stylistic coherence (Berge 1990:47). tion from 1925). Broadcasting companies 14. In the Norwegian original: were also founded in Bergen (1925), Åle- [Kringkastingen] stiller lytteren i direkte sund (1926) and Tromsø (1927) (Dahl rapport med den talende. Og tilhørerne 1991:30). hører like godt som om de var tilstede. Dette 22. In the Norwegian original: blir jo meget værdifuldere end at læse et Er det for meget at si, at veltalenheten vil foredrag, for eksempel i en avis. Den direkte faa en ny epoke, og at det samme vil ske rapport mellom den optrædende og hans au- med oplæringskunsten? Er det for meget at ditorium er det ene væsentlige ved si, at tonekunsten vil kunne finne vei til kringkastingen. Den anden væsentlige ting hvert hus og hver hytte, kan man tvile paa ved den er at man ikke behøver at være til- at ogsaa musikken staar foran en ny epoke, stede. Herved blir det auditorium en taler forsaavidt angaar mængden av mennesker hænvender sig til, uendelig meget større, det den kan naa? vokser fra nogen faa hundrede eller nogen Hvor meget godt vil der ikke kunne saaes tusen til titusener, hundretusener, en taler ut til folket paa denne maate. Kunst og vel- kan henvænde sig direkte til millionen, til talenhet, nyheter og nyttig stoff, kringkas- et helt folk kan han tale.’ tingen omfatter alt av aandelig værdi, og 15. In present-day radio production the degree særlig de som bor langt borte fra centrene, vil of pre-planning appears to be next to zero faa glæde av den. in certain genres, at least in middle ’slots’ in Fra første stund maa kringkastingen læg- the global text structure. However, on closer ges an på folkeoplysning. Den skal kunne inspection it turns out that scripting has bringe noget til alle, bare den ikke bringer been replaced by formulaic utterances in set noget kjedelig. Den gaar ut over det hele routines (cp Brand & Scannell 1991:217). samfund akkurat som sol og regn falder over 16. Examples are given in the appendix under det hele land. Og enhver som vil, kan mot the heading ’Time-space transformations’. en ringe betaling bli delagtig i den. Og The term simulated interaction is taken from likesom regn og sol faar det til at gro i Mancini (1988). bakken, vil kringkastingen kunne faa det 17. This strategy is also known as ’para-social til at gro i menneskenes sind. interaction’ (Horton & Wohl 1976:212), ’si- 23. There are, of course, also more fundamental mulated co-presence’ (Scannell 1991:2), and goals involved in broadcasting activities – ’synthetic personalization’ (Fairclough 1992: such as ’establishing respectability in the 98). public opinion both for radio as a medium

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208 Appendix: Text Examples from Norwegian Radio

Time-space transformations Suppression strategy One of the most difficult things to do, is exactly to Sigmund Freud was born in 1985, and spent most discover something that one has always known. of his life in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Fol- Most people wander about in the world without ever lowing Hitler-Germany’s annexation of Austria, noticing such things. Everthing that is, is taken for he flew, in 1938, to London, where he died the follo- granted — no fish discovers water. wing year. You (sg) have certainly used an elevator. Have Freud has had an enormous impact, not only on you (sg) noticed that hardly anyone look eachother psychiatry and psychology, but also on literature, art straight in the face. They might look in the wall, and social debate. [---]1 (Einar Kringlen: ‘Sig- they might watch their watches, they might stare in mund Freud og Psykolanalysens stilling i the air – but they do not meet eachother’s eyes. And 4 dag’, October 23, 1993, NRK P2, published that is peculiar. (from Gudmund Hernes: in P2-Akademiet 1994:29) ‘Hvordan ser et forskerhode ut på innsiden?’, October 2, 1993 NRK P2, pub- lished in P2-Akademiet 1994:11) Exclusion strategy Now we need to redirect our way of thinking to the world of meteorology. All research shows that in dry Miracle strategy country areas there is a correlation between precipi- (Example from 1935 radio reportage) tation and vegetation. Many of the listeners will ((SOUND: STEAM ENGINE STARTING remember how Leif Juster made fun of The Insti- (7) )) miet 1994:104) ... we are now having a transmission ... by way of short wave transmitter . from the train . to a re- Simulated interaction ceiver at Vegårdsheia ... and from there by direct line [---] In experiments at school it is not the pupils to the broadcasters who test nature, but rather the experiments that test ... (3.3) hopefully . this technical experiment will the pupils. Whether they understand the instruction, succeed whether they master the laboratory equipment, whe- . and we will be able to give you ((V-FORM, ther they see what they are supposed to see, whether SG)) impressions . from this solemn occasion . that they draw the correct conclusions. really here where we are an Can you (pl) sense the soreness in what I am occasion saying? Can you (pl) sense that I am saying that the opening . of the six kilometre long . new rail 5 things are not what they ought to be? Then you (pl) track . from Neslandsvatn to Nelaug (from have understood my careful hints.3 (Svein Sjø- Thorstein Diesen: “Sørlandsbanen”, NRK berg: ‘Trenger et dannet menneske å vite 1935) noe om naturvitenskap?’, January 1, 1994 NRK P2, published in P2-Akademiet 1994:164)

209 Interactional modes and degrees of pre-planning:

lett|, .. ^raudvorme maska til kyrkjetenar 1) Scripted monologue & 2) Scripted ^Evensen|. dialogue slightly .. ^redish mask of verger ^Even- sen IND INF TEXT A1.10 AK .. god^kveld Drabløs|, A1.1 AK Great ^barnedåp|. straks gå av ^stabelen|; because I A1.8 AK .. og inne i ein ^krok|, ser eg A9.1 AK .. the twentyfive-years-jubilant in ^profile (that we can manage) ACC> A1.9 AK .. han sit og dreg ein pudder^kvast|, over .. den A9.3 AK jeg (/jæ/) har alltid ^høyrt at femogtjuge år|, er .. he sits and pulls a powder ^puff over .. då the I have always ^heard that twentyfive years is {då}

210 inga .. ^tid|, i ^våre ^dagar|. (/i/) .. nok seie noko slikt som at .. eg (/i/) no .. ^time/ in ^our ^days alltid .. {nok} say something like that .. I A9.4 AK så det skal alltid .. ^greia seg .. med eit have always so it will allways .. ^do .. with a har kjent meg ^kalla til ^dette kvar^ter til å nå fram til Dykkar fyrste|, .. felt a ^call for ^this ^milepål|. A11.1 AK [o=g --] M> quarter to reach your ((V-form)) first .. ^mile- [a=nd --] stone A12.1 ED

beskrev ^utbyggingssjef/ ingeniør ^Vaumund/ . 3) Scripted diamonologue described ^construction director/ engi- IND INF TEXT neer ^Vaumund/ . ((CLASSICAL MUSIC (15) )) kraftstasjonen fra pa^piret\ M> the power plant from the ^paper\ M> [((CLASSICAL MUSIC CONTINUES))] H2.1 CLV ... ((START 1946 RECORDING))

211 (/færrdi/) ^utført/ . i det tolvtusen kubikkme- H4.1 CLV ((START SOUND FROM WATER ter PLANT)) ^done/ . in that twelve thousand cubic M> ((END 1946 tely in^stalled/ RECORDING)) . og for så vidt ^allerede . ^vært i/ . rota^sjon/ time .e. . this ^autumn\ SLOW>M> . and really ^already . ^been in/ . ro^ta- ((END 1946 RECORDING)) tion/ H3.1 RK . and it dominates the whole ^valley\ installation ^of\ M?> H3.3 RK . ikke fordi den er så ^stor/ . men fordi den mo- H5.1 RK . ... the building ^is/ . . . {altså} I mean there is -- sytti meter ^lang/ og femogtjue meter ^bred\ H5.3 RK det ser ut som det er så mye ^rom/ ^ledig/ seventy metre ^long/ and twenty-five M?> metre in ^width\ there seems to be a lot of ^space/ ^va- H3.5 RK . og den er så ^høy/ som en tolv fjorten etasjes cant/ M?> ^gård/ H6.1 CLV ^gitt/ på the building from the ^completed/ . but/ the construction height is exactly . ^product\ M> ^given/ in ((END STUDIO))

212 ^forhånd/ . i og med . de . ma^skiner/ som alminnelighet pleier francistur^biner/ . at ^advance/ . in that . the . ma^chines/ normally use to francis tur^bines/ . that installeres ^her\ man får en ^sugehøyde/ . ^men/ . tvert imot installed ^here\ one gets a ^suction height/ . ^but/ . on H6.4 CLV . turbinen ble ^nemlig/ ... ^satt/ ... !under the contrary . the turbine is ^actually/ ... ^put/ ... !un- at man får et ^lite/ . ^mottrykk\ der that one gets a ^small/ . ^counter pres- ^undervannet/ sure\ the ^under water/ H6.5 CLV ... altså ikke . helt sånn som man . ((CONTINUES)) ... that is to say not. totally the way that (from Rolf Kirkvaag: Electricity from Hol power plant, one . 1949/1946)

hadde/ oppi ^husene sine\ SS> 4) Hybrid dialogue had/ in one of his ^houses\ SS> IND INF TEXT C2.7 AK room_ and ^boats there were/ in every ^cove\ C1.27 AK . og skal få oss ein ^prat om_ . litt av ^kvart\ M> . and are going to have a ^chat about_. C2.9 AM gines named Abelone ^Møkster/ M> sabbar som der er ^bilar i ^Oslo\ SS> C2.1 AM C2.2 AM han ^er ikkje (/kje/) ^gamal handelstad/ it ^isn’t ^old trading post/ ~C3.1 AM C2.3 AM her var nokon som (/so/) . aller ^fyrst . begynte C4.1 AK who started to sell ^bread that they ^didn’t have to C5.1 AM obtain a ^trading licence for\ C6.1 AK ^mange_] P> C2.4 AM . og ^so_ . var der då ein gamal ^snikkar/ S> . and ^then_ . there was {då} an old ^many_] P> ^carpenter/ S> som begynte handla som løyste seg han- dels^brev\ C7.1 AM C2.5 AM . og etter ^han_ . då begynte ^eg\ ((CONTINUES)) . and after ^him_ . then started ^I\ (from Arthur Klæbo: Three waste land women [Tre C2.6 AM for ^han . berre handla litt i eit ^rom han øydegardskvinner], 1957) because ^he . only traded a bit in a ^room that he

213 A [2 @= 2] 5) Semi-spontanious/spontanious talk JS [2 . ja= . vi skulle jo 2] helst holde -- ((INTRODUCTION + CONVERSATION WITH [2 . ye=s . we should {jo} 2] preferably hold -- FIRST GUEST)) RK (0) laga jeg noen mål den gangen RK . hva . hva hva sparket De den gangen (0) did I make any goals at that time . what . what what did you ((V-FORM)) play that time A [3

3] JS . å= .e=m. . skal vi se JS [3 ... 3] ja da . stort sett bra . oh= . e=m . well [3 ... 3] oh yes . pretty good JS ... ..e=. De sparka center RK [4

4] ... .. e=. you ((V-FORM)) played center [4

4] JS og jeg sparka= ... ja centerback eller winghalf tenker jeg A [4 @= 4] and I play=ed ... yes center back or wing half I believe A [P @= P>] (from Rolf Kirkvaag: Easy mix from Marienlyst [Lett RK [...] ja sånn om hverandre altså blanding fra Marienlyst skoles aula], 1959) [...] yes at once then

Key to transcription conventions The general outline of the transcription model is based Laughter @ on Du Bois: ‘Transcription design principles for spoken discourse research’ (Pragmatics 1:1,71-106, 1991), Du PARALINGUISTIC FEATURES Bois et al. 1991 (Discourse Transcription), Du Bois et al. Quality (of voice extending over a 1993 and the Nordic macrosyntagm model (Hanssen et stretch of speech) al. 1978). Manuscript reading quality Probable manuscript reading UNITS Rehearsed spontaneity Turn [speaker identification] Spontaneous speech Macrosyntagm unit (MS unit)[carriage return] Pre-planned speech Word [space] Semi-spontaneous speech Truncated intonation unit -- [two hyphens] Forte: increased loudness Truncated word - [hyphen] Piano: decreased loudness

Laugh quality <@ @> SPEAKERS Parenthetical prosody Speaker identity/turn start CAPITALS: Multiple quality features Y> Speech overlap [ ] or [[ ]] Tempo [ ] or [[ ]] Fast The left brackets are vertically aligned to indicate where Slow the overlap starts. Accelerando: gradual speeding up Decelerando: gradual slowing down Marcato: words distinct/emphasized SOME PROSODIC FEATURES Main intonation contour/terminal pitch direction (placed at the end of an intonation contour) TRANSCRIBER’S PERSPECTIVE Fall \ Transcriber’s/researcher’s comment ((CAPITALS)) Rise / Uncertain hearing Level – [dash] Indecipherable stretch of speech X= Pause Phonemic transcription (/ /) Long ... Short . INDEXING Primary accent ^ [in front of the stressed syllable] Speech events/texts alphabetic symbols: A, B, C Emphatic accent ! [in front of the stressed syllable] Turns arabic numerals: 1, 2, 3 ... Macrosyntagm units VOCAL NOISES/NON-VERBAL SOUNDS ( ) (within turns) .1, .2, .3 [arabic numerals follo- Exhalation (Hx) wing a dot] Inhalation (H) Backchannel ~

214 Notes 4. In the Norwegian original: Noe av det aller vanskeligste en kan gjøre, er 1. In the Norwegian original: nettopp å oppdage det en alltid har sett. De Sigmund Freud var født i 1985 og tilbrakte aller fleste vander rundt i verden uten noensinde mesteparten av sitt liv i Østerrikes hovedstad å få øye på den. Alt som er, er selvsagt — ingen Wien. Etter Hitler-Tysklands anneksjon av fisk oppdager vann. Østerrike, flyktet han i 1938 til London, hvor Du har sikkert kjørt med heis. Har du lagt han døde året etter. merke til at nesten ingen i en heis ser hverandre Freud har hatt en enorm betydning, ikke bare i øynene. De kan se i veggen, de kan se på for psykiatrien og psykologien, men for litteratur, klokken, de kan stirre ut i luften — men altså kunst og samfunnsdebatt. [---] ikke se hverandre i øynene. Og det er jo ganske 2. In the Norwegian original: rart. Nå må vi flytte tankegangen inn i meteorologens 5. In the Norwegian original: verden. All forskning viser nemlig at i tørr- ((SOUND: STEAM ENGINE START- landsområdene er det stor sammenheng mellom ING (7) )) 3. In the Norwegian original: ... vi har nu . overføring ... ved hjelp av kort- [---] I skolens eksperimenter er det ikke elevene bølgesender . fra toget . til mottager på Ve- som tester naturen, men forsøkene som tester ele- gårdsheia ... og derfra på linje til kringkasterne vene. Om de forstår instruksjonene, om de mes- ... (3,3) forhåpentlig . vil dette ... tekniske ek- trer utstyret, om de ser det de skal se, om de speriment lykkes trekker de riktige konklusjonene. . og vi skal kunne gi Dem . inntrykk . fra Aner dere sårheten i det jeg sier? Aner denne høytidelige begivenhet . som virkelig her dere at jeg sier at det ikke burde være slik? nede vi sitter . en begiven- Da har dere forstått mine forsiktige antyd- het ninger. åpningen . av den seksti kilometer lange . nye jernbane . fra Neslandsvatn til Nelaug

215 216